A former city employee stands before the District Court judge for a bond. The employee is accused of taking a part from a city vehicle and installing it in another vehicle.

The attorney of a city police officer sets a date for a preliminary hearing for his client, charged with second-degree rape.

The rest of us who pay taxes here in Selma hold our city employees to a higher standard. Likely the chief reason for this stands on a base of we, the taxpayers, feel invested — totally.

We pay our sales taxes and we pay our property taxes, and then we watch city employees perform their duties as they cut grass, collect garbage or trash, protect us by patrolling or repair roads.

The feeling is different because we seem less removed financially and through services rendered than we do with the young man who bags groceries or the clerk in a pharmacy or the waitperson at the table in a local restaurant.

Because of this relative closeness, when a city employee, no matter the position, comes under fire for wrongdoing it affects us deeper; hits us harder.

City officials have responded appropriately, as far as we know, in each of these cases, following the rule of law.

The cases are flowing through the court system, as they should.

Still, the darkness of these accusations gives us pause for a moment, which is not a bad thing. These incidences shake our trust in people and structures, and questioning is healing sometimes.

But we also must wait on the system to churn out its results. In doing so, we must realize most people are good and just want to work and live their lives in peace.